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What is added to coins to make them milled coins?
Nothing is added to make a coin milled. Milled means it been struck by a machine.
Why are dimes and quarters ridged on the edges?
It's called "milling", and it's a historical relic. At one time, coins were made of precious metals (gold or silver). Unscrupulous people would shave the edges of coins and collect the shavings to melt down. Milling the edges makes it obvious that this has been done, and that the coin therefore wasn't worth full value. Neither quarters nor dimes still contain any gold or silver, but they're still milled, mostly because they've been that way for a long time, and ceasing to mill them would make them look "weird" to people at this point.
Why are the edges of some coins notched?
The actual term is "reeded" rather than "notched". Reeded edges prevent thieves from clipping coins. That is shaving metal metal off the edges. Dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollar coins all were made of silver until 1964. Pennies and nickels do not have precious metal in their mix. The US continued to use reeding on the edges of dimes, quarters, and half dollars even though they were changed to copper-nickel in the 1960s and 1970s. The $1 coins introduced in 2000 are also made of non-precious metals, and have smooth edges to help differentiate them from the other denominations. Many countries now use variations of standard reeding to help make their coins distinguishable by touch as well as sight, especially if they're similar in size. For example some euro coins have wide reeding, others have very narrow reeding, and still others have what's called "interrupted" reeding with interspersed smooth spaces.
What does reeding mean in coins?
Reeding is the type of textured or grooved edges on some coins. U.S. dimes and quarters are reeded, but cents and nickels are not. The reason some coins have reeding is because when coins were made of precious metals like gold and silver, sometimes people would shave off a little of the coin to keep for themselves, to collect and sell at another time. By adding reeds, coins couldn't be altered without noticeable marks.
What is added to the edge of some coins to make them milled coins?
The term "milled coin" refers to how it's struck rather than what appears on the edge. A "milled" coin is simply one that's struck by a machine. That's in contrast to a "hammered" coin which is made by manually striking the coin between two dies. Hammering is a very old technique and is no longer used because it's extremely slow, labor-intensive, and error-prone. You may be thinking of the term "reeding" which is sometimes conflated with milling. Reeding describes the addition of ridges, grooves, etc. to the edge of a coin. Traditionally reeding consisted of a series of fine, evenly-spaced ridges running all the way around the edge. Reeds were added to precious-metal coins to discourage a form of theft called coin-shaving. When gold and silver coins had smooth edges, criminals would use a file or knife to remove a small amount of metal all the way around the edge. If a crook shaved enough coins they could accumulate a profitable amount of metal while still spending the coins at their original value. Done carefully, shaving would be difficult for the average person to detect because coins would still be circular and only slightly lighter. Coin-shaving dropped significantly when reeds were added, because any attempt to remove metal from the edge would be almost immediately detectable. Today reeds are still used on coins but for different reasons. Some coins that were formerly silver (e.g. US and Canadian dimes, quarters, and halves) have reeds simply out of tradition. Other countries use specialized reeding to make coins easier to identify by touch, as a help for people who have visual impairments. For example, some EU coins have closely-spaced reeds while others are wide, and still others have "interrupted" reeds that alternate with smooth stretches.
